Car-unloader



(No Modl. I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

M.'0-DOWD.

GAR-UNLOADBR.

' No. 575,492. Patented Jan. 19, 1897.

' k Ewen 2%]? (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.-

M. ODOWD.

V GAR UNLOADBR. No. 575,492. Patented Jan. 19, 1897.

JficZaeZ 2062,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. RESSEGUIE,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CARV-UNLOADER.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 575,492, dated January 19, 1897.

Application filed July 29, 1896.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that 1, MICHAEL ODown, a citizen of the United States,residin g at Chillicothe, in the county of Peoria and State of 5 Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Unloaders, of which the following is a specification.

lWIy invention relates particularly to that class of mechanisms for unloading railwaycars, and especially to that class for unloading ballast sand and gravel from platformcars.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, economical, and efficient mechanism for unloading ballast, such as crushed stone, rock, gravel, and sand, from platform-cars in desired quantities; and the invention consists in the features, combinations, and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improvementshown in combination with a platform-car and looking at the same from the top; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; and Fig. 3 a transverse sectional elevation, taken on line 3 of Fig. 1, showing the parts somewhat enlarged.

In the art to which this invention relates it, is customary and usual in unloading platform-cars to shovel material from the cars by manual labor. This is a very slow method, as well as expensive, in that it requires a large force of laborers for the purpose of unloading the car in anything like a satisfactory manner. Further, it is well known that in ballasting railroad-beds about half a car-load of material is the amount necessary for the top-dressing of the bed for a length equal to the length of a car, so that it is desirable to have mechanism that will discharge about one-half the load at a time.

My improvement therefore is intended principally to obviate the objections existing in the art and to provide a simple, economi- 3 cal, and efficient mechanism for unloading or discharging one-half of a load at a time.

In constructing an unloader in accordance with my improvement I make the discharge portion of two vertical metallic sections A,

arranged at an acute angle with relation to each other, and preferably to provide a sub- Serial No- 600,879. (No model.)

stantially central passage to between such sections. This central passage is for the purpose of allowing or permitting a portion of the materialon the car to remain practically undisturbed thereon. The size of the opening should be proportioned so as to leave about one-half the load on the car; that is, each of the discharging-sections should discharge or deflect from the car one-quarter of the load to each side thereof. In order to strengthen this mechanism and hold the discharging-sections in their operative positions,

I provide overhead trusses B, that are practically arch-shaped and have their lower depending legs carried down the full width of the discharging-sections, so that while they strengthen and stiffen the structure they do not in any manner interfere with either the discharge of the material or with the material that is left on the car.

To stiffen the side portion of the dischargesections and provide guides for the structure,

I make what I will term two guide-rails C C, formed, preferably, of railway-iron, or rails with their head portions arranged out-- wardly and the flanges extending inwardly. The lower rear portions of the discharge-sections, as at c, are secured to these guard-rails and the front portions are provided with So trusses D, that connect substantially or practically the upper front portions of the discharging-sections with the guard-rails. These guide-rails are preferably of alength exceeding the length of the discharging-sections, and the front portions thereof are curved inwardly and upwardly, so that during the operation they Will contact side stakes e of a platform-car E and guide the discharge mechanism through the longitudinal center of the car or from car to car. At the same they will act as guards to protect the other mechanism from contacting the stakes and being injured thereby.

To operate the parts, the front parts of the 5 operating-sections adjacent to the side and upper front trusses are provided with hooks a", to which a chain Or maybe secured for the purpose of having a pulling-cable H draw the same, as desired.

In operation the unloader is placed on an empty platform-car, the cable secured thereto lOO and to a locomotive. lhe car or cars to be unloaded are placed in line with the car that carries the unloader. The locomotive is then started and the unloader drawn onto the loaded cars, which operation is insured by the side stakes and acts to discharge one-half of the load of each car. To discharge the entire load, the front open space of the half-unloader maybe provided with an A-shaped deflecting portion, such portion and the main portion being rigidlysecured together in any economical manner, so that the entire load may be discharged, when desired.

The advantages of my invention are that either one-half or the entire load may be discharged, as desired, at a minimum expense and the saving of considerable time. At the same time the structure is economical to build and efficient in operation and will perform the work of a great many laborers.

\Vhile I have described my invention with more or less minuteness as regards details and arrangements and as being embodied in certain precise forms, I do not desire to be limited thereto unduly, no more than as pointed out in the claims. On the contrary, I contemplate all proper changes in form, construction, and arrangement, the omission of immaterial elements, and the substitution of equivalents, as circumstances may suggest or render expedient.

I claim- 1. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a discharging portion formed of two substantially vertical sections arranged at an acute angle with relation to each other and to provide a substantially central passage so that a portion only of a load is discharged, and mechanism for guiding the structure in the desired position along a car and from car to car, substantially as described.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of discharge portion formed of two substantially vertical sections arranged at an acute angle with relation to each other and to provide a central passage therethrough, overhead arched trusses for securing the parts together, and guide-rails, one arranged at each side of the structure and exceeding the length of the discharge-sections for the purpose of guiding the structure in the desired position along a car or from car to car, substantially as described.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a discharging portion formed of two substantially vertical sections arranged at an acute angle with relation to each other, truss mechanism for securin g the sections together, and guide-rails, one at each side of the dischargingportion formed of railway metallic rails of a length exceeding the length of the discharging-section and having their front portions bent upwardly and inwardly, and truss mechanism for securing the front portion of the discharge-sections to the guiderails, substantially as described.

MICHAEL ODOWD.

Witnesses:

C. B. STRoHM, F. MCFARLAND. 

